A Civil Society Group calling itself 350 Ghana Reducing Our Carbon (GROC) has urged government to show greater commitment in fulfilling its 10 percent renewable energy mix by 2030 as a measure of helping to address the challenges of climate change.
The call was in line with goal seven of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -ensuring universal access to affordable electricity by 2030 by investing in clean energy sources such as solar, wind and thermal energy, which goes a long way to benefit the environment.
Renewable energy is one of the areas of fighting climate change and this accounts for the reason the Group is focusing largely in this area.
According to 350 Ghana Reducing Our Carbon (GROC) – a global climate change Group, currently, Ghana has less than 1 percent renewable energy with respect to the energy mix and it was important to continuously engage with government and policy makers on its commitment on renewable.
Speaking with the Goldstreet Business during an action driven forum organized by the Group at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra last Friday, a Co-coordinator for GROC, Chibeze Ezekiel said there was the need to keep pushing to remind government of its commitment.
“Some policies have been revised in this regard which include the Renewable Energy Act passed by parliament in 2011. There are efforts from the State in showing commitment, but usually if we don’t push by creating the awareness and demand, we may not get the needed results”, he added.
The programme forms part of activities to mark the Friday for Climate campaign which was observed across the globe to educate citizens on issues of climate change and demand actions to be undertaken to address this challenge.
Its objective is to train young journalists and students on how to use social media as tool for climate change reporting and advocacy as well as the importance of promoting the use of renewable energy.
After the event, organisers and participants embark on a walk to demand government’s to commit to “building a fossil free Ghana that put people and justice before profits”.
